


You haven't changed. You've just changed sides.

by TaraTheMeerkat



Series: A Study in Character Motivation (or, Fifty Shades of Narcissism) [2]
Category: Grange Hill
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-22
Updated: 2015-07-22
Packaged: 2018-04-10 17:43:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4401323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaraTheMeerkat/pseuds/TaraTheMeerkat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kieran Osbourne had control.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You haven't changed. You've just changed sides.

Most people, in this situation, would think of their friends and loved ones.

But Kieran Osbourne didn’t have ‘friends’. He had accomplices. 

No. That still wasn’t quite right.

He had people he would form alliances with, until he no longer needed them. People he would let trust him for just as long as it took to get what he wanted. People he would let believe they were his friends until the time came to turn around and stab them in the back, to claim what was rightfully his.

Kieran Osbourne had control.

He had realised from an early age that he would never be able to get power and respect through physical force or intimidation. He was only a pale, scrawny little thing. He would have to be clever. Earn people’s trust then yank it away. Use his brains to worm into people’s lives and people’s homes and people’s sanity, wear away until there’s nothing left, undermine them and destroy them from the inside out. And the whole time, never once make them suspect him or stop trusting him. Make them think he’s the only one they can trust and let them give him everything. He had to be in control.

He was a genius, no doubt about it. But he wasn’t going to spend his days slaving away in a school, pandering to the system. He had bigger fish to fry. He was going to do this all on his own.

Ozzie, they called him. He quite liked it. It amused him. He’d often wonder if he should start calling himself the Prince of Darkness, like that other, less important Ozzy Osbourne. It would certainly be fitting.

Ozzie had crafted the perfect image. He had perfected the art of smirking, laughing to himself in a corner, lurking in shadows, every bit the typical supervillain. Dark suits, dark hair, pale skin, and bright eyes. Nobody would dare cross him. But for other occasions, he had another image. Wide eyed, friendly, a charming face. Vulnerable and open, his emotions radiating off him, plain and obvious as an open book.

But it was just an act. He’d begun to wonder if he had any emotions at all anymore. If there even was a real him, or just a sharp brain behind a series of masks.

Ozzie had no family. No-one questioned where his family was, why a teenage schoolboy lived alone, making his own way in life. Ozzie always managed to deflect the subject, made sure nobody asked any questions, made sure most people never even realised until much later that he had always been completely alone. He could make anybody think anything, notice things that weren’t there, and never notice obvious things that were right under their noses. He was a magician. He was a genius.

He had control.

He only had one mistake, and her name was Vikki. 

It was never supposed to end like this. She was just one of his games. If he could blag his worst enemy’s girl, his current employer, a big name in the criminal underworld, would reward him. Simple.

But matters of the heart are never that simple. She fell in love with him. It was nice, having someone actually love him. He decided he wanted to keep her.

His employer put an end to that. Told her the truth for him, humiliated him in front of everyone. 

But nobody plays Kieran Osbourne for their own amusement and wins. 

Before the week was out, that scumbag’s entire criminal ring had been brought crumbling down from the inside out, and Ozzie had got away scot-free. And Ozzie had his girl back.

But it didn’t last long. The wonderful feeling of holding her, kissing her, was soon replaced by a blinding white light and a blinding pain.

A fire. A chemical explosion. His lighting mind moved faster than ever before in that moment.

The fire spread to the chemicals and caused an explosion. The chemicals were out because the science teacher had got them out the cupboard that morning. He’d got them out because the wedding rings were locked up there, because it was the most secure place in the school. The science teacher was paranoid about security because of his experiences last year. With Ozzie…

Ozzie smiled wryly despite himself, as he lay on the ground, searing agony coursing through him. He had been setting himself up for one hell of a fall.

Most people, in this situation, would think of their friends and loved ones.

But Kieran Osbourne didn’t have friends.

He only had one loved one, and she lay lifeless in the rubble next to him.

No-one would remember him.

He had lost control.

And, as he finally slipped away into oblivion, the masks fell away to reveal what he always had been: a scared little boy who had nothing.


End file.
